It's about as long as The First Transatlantic Flight (Alcock and Brown, 1919).

(John Alcock and Arthur Whitten Brown) (1919) (first non-stop flight)In an effort to win a £10,000 prize from London's The Daily Mail, John Alcock and Arthur Brown completed a flight from St. John's, Newfoundland to Connemara, Ireland in 16 hours and 12 minutes in June, 1919. In spite of their fame as aviators, Brown would never fly again after this trip and Alcock would lose his life during a flight to France less than 263,000 minutes later.

It's about one-and-one-tenth times as long as The First light bulb test (Edison, 1879).

In other words, 972 minutes is 1.120 times the length of The First light bulb test (Edison, 1879), and the length of The First light bulb test (Edison, 1879) is 0.8930 times that amount.

(Thomas Edison's filament Thread No. 9) (1879) (total time)Lit at 1:30am on October 22nd, 1879, the first Edison completed his first majorly successful test of his light bulb, which continued to burn for 870 minutes until the bulb glass succumbed to the heat and cracked, extinguishing the filament. Within 1,580,000 minutes of his success, Edison was selling 45,000 light bulbs per day to large companies across the country.

It's about one-and-nine-tenths times as long as The Longest Pro Baseball Game.

In other words, 972 minutes is 1.920 times the length of The Longest Pro Baseball Game, and the length of The Longest Pro Baseball Game is 0.5210 times that amount.

(1981) (McCoy Stadium, Pawtucket, Rhode Island)The longest professional baseball game in history — a triple-A game between the Pawtucket Red Sox and the Rochester Red Wings — took place between April 18th and 19th, 1981 lasting a total of 8 hours and 25 minutes (and 33 innings). The Red Sox ultimately won the game 3-2, but not before the game set twelve records, including the most plate appearances by a single player - a three-way tie between Tom Eaton, Dallas Williams, and future Hall-of-Famer Cal Ripken Jr., all of Rochester.

In other words, 972 minutes is 0.490 times the length of The Battle of Fort Sumter, and the length of The Battle of Fort Sumter is 2 times that amount.

(1861)The first battle of the American Civil War, the Battle of Fort Sumter began with the shelling of the Fort at 4:30 am on April 12th, 1861 and concluded with the surrender of the Fort by its Commander Robert Anderson at about 1:30pm on April 13th, 2,000 minutes later. The Battle's only casualties were the accidental shootings of two Union soldiers during the surrender ceremony.

It's about two-and-a-half times as long as The First Indianapolis 500.

In other words, 972 minutes is 2.41710 times the length of The First Indianapolis 500, and the length of The First Indianapolis 500 is 0.413720 times that amount.

(a.k.a. Indy 500, a.k.a. International 500-Mile Sweepstakes Race) (1911) (Indianapolis, Indiana)The first recorded automobile race of its distance, the inaugural Indianapolis 500 was won by Ray Harroun in 402.130 minutes. Haroun's average speed through the race was 120 kph (74.59 mph).

In other words, the length of The Great Chicago Fire is 3 times 972 minutes.

(1871) (Chicago, Illinois)The Great Chicago Fire started at about 9am and burned for 3,000 minutes between October 8th and October 10th, 1871. Chicago had experienced twenty smaller fires in the 20,000 minutes leading up to the blaze, due to drought conditions, strong winds, and the abundance of wooden buildings at the time.

It's about four-and-a-half times as long as Gone with the Wind (film).

In other words, 972 minutes is 4.290 times the length of Gone with the Wind (film), and the length of Gone with the Wind (film) is 0.2330 times that amount.

(1939)Gone with the Wind, the multiple Academy Award-winning film, had a running time of 226 minutes for its 1939 copyright release. The scene depicting the burning of the Atlanta Depot cost $25,000 (unadjusted) and was filmed on a 0.16 sq. km (40-acre) set using all seven Technicolor cameras in existence at the time.